It\u2019s hard to really contemplate this possibility, because Lindo is one of those performers with a face screaming out for a camera. Over the past few decades, the now-73-year-old actor has proved himself a screen presence of rare, brilliant magnetism. He is probably best known for his repeat collaborations with Spike Lee \u2013 he\u2019s terrific in films such as Crooklyn, Malcolm X and Da 5 Bloods<\/a> \u2013 and is now getting serious Oscar buzz for his supporting turn in Sinners, Ryan Coogler\u2019s vampire thriller. Today, he\u2019s with me in the library room of a Soho hotel. <\/p>\n \u201cI get tired of the sound of my own voice,\u201d Lindo says softly, \u201cbut I never get tired of talking about Sinners.\u201d It\u2019s obvious this second sentiment is true, even if the first seems to beggar belief. Lindo\u2019s voice, despite being lowered to half-mast, is a marvel: sonorous, steady, and characterful. His accent betrays nothing of his British origins (born in Lewisham, London, he moved to Canada while still a teenager) \u2013 though the mention of Tesco is a giveaway, I suppose. <\/p>\n By this point, whether you\u2019ve seen it or not, you will probably be aware of Sinners. Released in cinemas in April (and re-released this month), the genre-mixing blockbuster has been one of the year\u2019s big success stories: the highest-grossing original film in more than a decade, and an emergent heavyweight going into awards season. Michael B Jordan leads the film, playing entrepreneuring twins who open a juke joint in 1932 Mississippi, only for the club to be set upon by a gang of vampires. Lindo plays a droll, world-weary blues legend by the name of Delta Slim \u2013 a standout performance in a movie positively teeming with them.<\/p>\n A word you hear a lot when it comes to films such as Sinners, I say, is \u201csmuggling\u201d \u2013 the smuggling of sophisticated ideas and critiques into popular popcorn entertainment. It\u2019s true of filmmakers such as Coogler and Jordan Peele (Get Out), and it\u2019s especially true of Sinners, which uses its pulpy supernatural veneer to interrogate complex ideas about race and cultural appropriation. \u201cIt speaks to the genius of these storytellers, and the way they think,\u201d says Lindo. \u201cBut\u2026 you referred to the term \u2018smuggling\u2019. And it\u2019s not smuggling. Because it\u2019s very apparent. They\u2019re saying, \u2018This is what I would like for you, the audience, to engage with\u2019.\u201d <\/p>\n Even as Sinners descends into a good old fashioned man-vs-vamp bloodbath, it\u2019s always more than just empty thrills. \u201cWith Sinners, the violence is much more in-your-face, much more apparent,\u201d Lindo says, \u201cbut I would contend that it\u2019s certainly not violence for violence\u2019s sake. It\u2019s telling the larger story of what happens when a community is violated.\u201d<\/p>\n open image in gallery<\/p>\n Delta bluesman: Delroy Lindo as Slim in ‘Sinners’ (Warner Bros)<\/p>\n In this post-Everything Everywhere All At Once paradigm, it feels like no award is off the table for a film like Sinners. That a rumoured Oscar nomination would be Lindo\u2019s first is a marked injustice; you could easily make the case for several of his past performances \u2014 particularly 1993\u2019s Crooklyn, in which he played a scatty but well-meaning patriarch, or 2020\u2019s Da 5 Bloods, another Spike Lee joint in which Lindo shines as an irascible Vietnam vet. <\/p>\n![\"Delta](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/rev-1-GCH210A_00177410_High_Res_JPEG.jpeg\")
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![\"Blood](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Da_5_Bloods_01_18_54_05.jpeg\")
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